The National Transportation Safety Board has released its preliminary report on the Statesville plane crash that killed former NASCAR driver Greg Biffle and six others in December, including Biffle’s wife and two children.
Biffle's Cessna Citation business jet crashed a few minutes after takeoff on December 18th, while trying to return to the airport. The report doesn’t say definitively what caused the crash but found no evidence of structural or engine failure.
Biffle was a licensed pilot, but wasn't at the controls. The report said the pilot, Dennis Dutton, reported the left side altitude indicator was not functioning properly and that other left side flight instruments may have been inoperative. It also said the avionics unit stopped recording air speed and heading information and that the cockpit voice recorder may have had an electrical issue that left audio quality degraded.
NTSB issues its preliminary report for the ongoing investigation of the Dec. 18 crash of a Cessna Citation 550 airplane in Statesville, North Carolina: https://t.co/9YA1hPlv1K
— NTSB Newsroom (@NTSB_Newsroom) January 30, 2026
The full NTSB report may take until next year.
